Human
Trafficking in the early years of the 21st Century,
including reports of human trafficking for forced labor, forced
prostitution, debt bondage, slavery and forced marriage, as well as the
transfer of a child for purposes of exploitation.

Human
Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

Around the world,
millions of people are living in bondage. They labor in fields and
factories under brutal employers who threaten them with violence if they
try to escape. They work in homes for families that keep them virtually
imprisoned. They are forced to work as prostitutes or to beg in the
streets, fearful of the consequences if they fail to earn their daily
quota. They are women, men, and children of all ages, and they are often
held far from home with no money, no connections, and no way to ask for
help.

This is modern
slavery, a crime that spans the globe, providing ruthless employers with
an endless supply of people to abuse for financial gain. Human trafficking
is a crime with many victims: not only those who are
trafficked, but also the families they leave behind, some of whom never
see their loved ones again.

Trafficking has a
broad global impact as well. It weakens legitimate economies, fuels
violence, threatens public health and safety, shatters families, and
shreds the social fabric that is necessary for progress. And it is an
affront to our basic values and our fundamental belief that all people
everywhere deserve to live and work in safety and dignity.

[ Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons
Report, 2009 ]

A 9-year-old girl toils under the hot sun, making bricks
from morning to night, seven days a week. She was trafficked with her entire
family from Bihar, one of the poorest and most underdeveloped states in
India, and sold to the owner of a brick-making factory. With no means of
escape, and unable to speak the local language, the family is isolated and
lives in terrible conditions.[photo
by Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department]

This woman in her early 20s was trafficked into a blue
jean sweatshop, where she and other young women were locked in and made to
work 20 hours a day, sleeping on the floor, with little to eat and no pay.
She managed to escape and was brought to the government-run Baan Kredtrakarn
shelter in Bangkok. After a few days, when she felt safe enough to tell her
story to the director, the police were informed and they raided the
sweatshop, freeing 38 girls, ages 14-26. [photo by Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department]

Street kids, runaways, or children living in poverty can
fall under the control of traffickers who force them into begging rings.
Children are sometimes intentionally disfigured to attract more money from
passersby. Victims of organized begging rings are often beaten or injured if
they don't bring in enough money. They are also vulnerable to sexual
abuse.[photo by Kay Chernush for the
U.S. State Department]

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